Things Not to do While Managing Your TSP During a Pandemic. By: Ricardo Viader

We aren’t surprised by the changing activities in the Thrift Savings Plan. After all, the TSP after the coronavirus pandemic clobbered the performance of the stock market. 

Kim Weaver, the director of external affairs of the TSP, while giving an interview on the TV show Government Matters this week, said the government saw a hit in the inter-fund transfers. But that spike has been reported only from the 5% of our participants, said Kim. Ninety-five percent of the TSP participants are sitting idle and doing nothing. But she advised people to stick to their old plans. 

 It is natural to worry about the volatility of the stock market amid the coronavirus pandemic and worry about retirement in general. Kim received an email from a client this week, and we will discuss the email and solutions suggested by Kim. 

One client working under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) had already submitted her retirement paperwork in December 2019. She worked for the federal government for 22 years and will retire on March 31, 2020. This decision was made long ago, so she applied for her Social Security benefits and will be receiving her benefits starting in May 2020.

But all of us know about the third leg of our FERS retirement, the TSP. The client took her TSP last September and gave it to a very reliable financial adviser to manage for her. She also has some of the remaining TSP funds which have matured since September 2019. She had been actively saving in her TSP since she started her job with the government and actively contributed to the catch-up contribution. Now she can see her retirement savings declining day by day, and she doesn’t have any time to make it up for her, like the time she had when the market plunged the last time. 

According to her understanding of the documents, her paperwork has been reviewed and approved by the government. Still, she has not received the estimate of her annuity due to the agency’s software problems that the agency uses to calculate the annuity. So, she has no idea about the money she will receive monthly. She is in the middle of the checkout process that is expected to complete electronically only if things go as per plans. It’s too late for her to stop or delay her retirement at this point, so what should she do? It looks like she needs to look for a part-time job after retirement—she never planned anything like that!

Kim replied to her email and said, “If you think you are not ready to retire at this time, you still have time to hold your retirement application. Taking retirement is a voluntary action, and you haven’t left your job yet. This guidance comes from the Office of Personnel Management that says an agency must allow a federal employee to hold or withdraw his or her retirement application before the effective date of retirement, giving a valid reason and explaining the reason in writing to the employer. 

Though the retirement process will go slowly during this ongoing period of world crisis, if this situation worries you or if you think that you don’t have a three- to six-month month emergency fund, you can delay your retirement until you feel financially strong enough to bring your life to normal.

In the mail, the client mentioned that she withdrew most of her money out of her TSP and put it in the safe hands of a very reliable financial adviser. Kim said that when any financial professional asks you to do so, he or she should give an apparent reason for his or her activity.  

Kim said that the client’s financial adviser must have recommended some options to rebalance investments corresponding to retirement plans of this year. That doesn’t mean you would stay safe from the declining markets, but you should have some savings in your account to keep you stable while you withdraw savings from your retirement account without being impacted by the ups and downs of the changing market. 

“It’s common for professional financial advisers to contact their clients in situations like this and give them some certainty. I hope your financial advisor contacted you,” said Kim. Those who plan to retire or have recently retired from government services must check these tips from the below-mentioned resources: 

• Janet Novack has written an article on ways that the coronavirus will impact Boomer retirements. She has written in her report that in times like this, a “bucket strategy,” or allocating retirement savings, always works well. Taking an example, an individual nearing or already retired should save money for at least three to five years of essential expenses in cash or equivalent to cash like laddered CDs or Treasury bonds. 
• Josh Sacndlen of Heritage Wealth Planning said this bucket strategy helps you to segregate your current income needs into their emergency account. In this way, you don’t need to worry about times like this when the market is getting crushed and making ends meet is difficult. 
• Mark Keen has talked about many TSP issues that federal employees and retirees face in a webinar at the NARFE Federal Benefits Institute on February 27. Its saved copy is available for free to members of NARFE.
• Micah Shilanski said that TSP account holders who reserve a long-term plan for their savings and investments are not scared of the current market volatility. He further added that such employees in this condition consider this time as a buying opportunity because the stock market is low. He and Kim will be coming up with videos on March 27 and March 31, addressing issues of retirement planning during the current situation. 

Last but not least, the reminder from the TSP looks relaxing during this time of market uncertainty. By the time you understand the situation and plan to react to it, the entire market situation might have changed. If you skip one or two small ups in a decade, your TSP investments may give the average market return for the entire term. It is advised to stick to your plan and don’t attend these bouncers.